UN condemns terrorist attack in Somalia
February 21, 2014, 7:18 pm

African Union peacekeepers and the Somali military have waged a war against Al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Mohadishu [Getty Images]

Somalia’s interior ministry has said that 12 people have been killed and several wounded in an Al-Shabab attack on the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu Friday.

The dead included nine Al-Shabab fighters wearing military fatigues and two government officials; Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed, the ministry statement said.

Minister for National Security Abdelkarim Hussein Guled said that two car bombs were used to break through the compound gate as fighters tried to storm the building, but were stopped by security forces and African Union (AU) troops.

A UN statement praised security forces and AU troops for their quick action, but added that the “secretary-general is concerned that the recent attacks perpetrated by Al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia are clearly aimed at destabilizing the country at a time when many efforts are being mobilized to restore peace and development”.

“[Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon] reiterates the United Nations’ unwavering support for their determined efforts to build a peaceful and stable Somalia,” the statement added.

Last week, a car bomb targeted a meeting of senior police officers at a Mogadishu hotel, injuring four people.

On January 1, a similar attack against the Jazira Hotel near the airport in Mogadishu, killed 11 people.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.